BAJA and the U.S. built WWII 'POLE LINE ROAD', 4WD RUN

Yes I can, I think your friend on Baja nomad got me all set on arroyo grande thanks for steering me in the right direction.

 

Did you watch the video... ? Much of the second half of the 13 minutes flick was on Basketball Hill.

I presume it was Harald (4x4abc) who advised on the Arroyo Grande exit?

 

Incredible trip report. Thx for sharing. I'll watch the video later tonight.

I've got to schedule some time in Baja!

 

It's much better if you can watch it on a big screen. With a Blu Ray player (or X Box?) you can get Internet on the TV, and You Tube has lots of Baja on it. This one is PLR 2015 , doing a You Tube search.

 

Experimenting with the most user friendly methods to make trip maps, here is one I did with my recorded mileages between points along the road, pointed to with arrows (mileage between the arrows).



*On the west end, the first mileage is from the bottom of the summit/ locked gate (25 miles south of Cohabuzo Jcn.) on the detour route to...
*Rancho Huatamote road. 2.4 (if gate was open, subtract ~1 mile)
The next points are:
*Left at Y (Rancho/ Cañon Jamau road). 1.7
*The white water tank. 3.7
*Cobblestone road near Cañada de Enmedio. 2.8
*Leave Enmedio for bottom of Basketball Hill. 2.4
*Cobblestone ramp into Cañada Jaquegel. 1.6
*Leave Jaquegel to south. 3.9
*Briefly drop into Jaquegel final time. 3.8
*T Junction. 4.0
*Arroyo Grande. 4.3
*Wells (water pumps) for gold mine on Hwy. 5. 5.3
(Hwy. 5 by La Ventana is 12.5 miles east).

 

I just wanted to say again this is a great trip report and I loved the pics and video. I'd love to be a part of a journey down there sometime. The legend of Melchior Diaz's grave is very intriguing. I couldn't imagine finding something that awesome or historically significant.

 

Finding adventure in Baja California is not at all hard to do... but with a little reading and research, the history is just intense. Because the rate of development is so much less than this side of the border, it is possible to see historical sites today rather than just pictures in a book.

Since California (Baja and Alta) was the target of explorers, missionaries, miners, historical sites from several centuries can be found. If you factor in the native people who have lived in Baja California for 10,000 years, you can find more sites... for example, here is one we just walked up to after a short hike from the Tacoma...



Here is an article I wrote about that site: http://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/painted_cave_of_el_carmen.php

My web site is full of links and photos to help anyone have a Baja adventure: http://vivabaja.com

 

Lables added to arrows:


If I put too much text on the map it spoils it, but if I don't say enough, it can be unclear.

The full road log was posted earlier, so I just used some points from that log that are events on the map.

The Gate/Summit Rd. to the Huatamote road mileage shown is on the detour route (if the gate is open, subtract ~1 mile).

Just 0.1 mile before/ west of the Huatamote Road is where the Saiz or Middle Summit road joins the Pole Line Rd. and 0.5 mile west of the Huatamote Road is where the detour road meet the Pole Line Road.

The Jamau Y is the 'Left at Y' mileage note earlier in this report. Rancho Jamau may no longer be there. A road once climbed the mountain beyond, making this the Cañon Jamau or South/ 3rd Summit road.

The 'Cobblestone' point is the third cobblestone going east or the first of three upon exiting Cañada Enmedio going west. This was very close to entering Enmedio eastbound.

Enmedio/Basketball is where the road leaves Enmedio and soon is at the bottom of Basketball Hill, with the first telephone poles going east.

Jaquegel/Basketball is the other bottom of Basketball Hill (the easy side) where it reached Jaquegel via a cobblestone ramp (palms nearby).

Jaquegel (west) is the point where the road exits Jaquegel to the south (east bound) after 0.9 mile in the wash.

Jaquegel (east) is where the road briefly drops into Jaquegel a final time, where we camped, where road construction was performed to exit Jaquegel.

T Junction. The map is not accurate, it is actually to the west of that thin mountain north end, not to the NE of it as the map puts the road junction. This explains why the 4.0 mileage is a longer looking run than the 4.3 mileage that follows (eastbound).

The 5.3 miles from the Arroyo Grande junction to the wells, is IN the arroyo, not on the road shown east of the arroyo.

 

Even more details on topographic maps...

 

Map 2 of 4...

 

Map 3 of 4...

 

Map #4, east portion of Pole Line Road Run

 

OK... I gave the background on the Henderson/Diaz search, I need to tell you what we saw! PART II (coming up)

 

Part II, the search for Henderson's Rock Pile & The Lost Grave of Melchior Diaz from 1541 is in its own thread here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/baja-and-the-mystery-of-melchior-diaz-from-1541.372439/

 

In researching this road, I found this map published in 1953, from a November, 1952 expedition to Arroyo Grande... So far, it is the earliest reference I have to the 1942 Pole Line Road. They crossed the road, so they had no idea of the route, which actually turned south and followed Arroyo Jaquegel:

 

Here is the article I wrote about this trip for Baja Bound's newsletter: http://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/pole_line_road.php

 

This weekend (June 26) TMW (Tacoma World member, with a Tacoma), Roy 'The squarecircle' (Baja Nomad, with a LR3 Land Rover) and Emerson (Baja Nomad, with a Toyota Land Cruiser) are going back to the Pole Line Road to explore the #3 summit road 'Cañon el Jamau' to see if it is passable. The Mexican topo map shows it is, but Google Earth and Bing images show a 1 mile gap of no road from the bottom of the canyon to the 'Rancho Jamau' shack location... which seems to be at the bottom end of the road coming down the mountain. On the maps above, the bottom is reached from the 'Jamau Y'. If the road isn't through, then they plan to drive up Summit #2 or #1 and go around to Summit #3 and drive down it to Rancho Jamau site. Spot and DeLorme InReach devices will allow us to see the progress they make. Good luck guys!

 

The expedition is underway! They arrived at the Pole Line Road and set up camp after midnight (Sat AM) and today have gone into Cañon Jamau and by 10 am discovered they could neither drive or hike up to Rancho Jamau, a mile up from the canyon bottom. As of 11 am, they are back out on the Pole Line Road and perhaps attempting to go up Summit #2 or #1 to go around to the top of Cañon Jamau?
Here are some DeLorme inReach and Spot maps from last night and today, so far:

 

Very cool. I still want to go down south.

 

There were more reports from the guys locations, I posted on Baja Nomad... I got an email from Emerson back home in Mexicali. Roy lives in El Cajon and TMW lives in Bakersfield, so they should have some reports soon. Here is the Nomad thread: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=79324